Nominated As A Prank, Susanna Salter Became 1st Female Mayor In US

The year was 1887. During the mayor's electoral race in Kansas, a group of mischievous men attempted to play a prank on women foraying into the previously men-only club of politics. 27-year-old Susanna Madora Salter, a well-respected woman in the community, was chosen as the target. They thought that it would be humourous to place her name as a nominee and laugh at her expense when she loses-- a 'foolproof' way to humiliate women in politics. That was until the day the electoral results were announced. The joke was on those men, as Salter had swept over 60% of the votes, making her the first woman in the country to become a mayor.

Salter's Influence On American Politics

From being unaware of her mayoral nomination to making an indispensable impact on American suffragettes and politics, Salter's story has had a lasting influence. The year she was elected, The Woman's Christian Temperance Union was focused on the enforcement of the Kansas prohibition laws, and Salter was one of the members.

When the news broke out that Salter was nominated for the mayoral polls, the Union abandoned their mayoral candidate and voted for her en masse. The Republicans were determined that she would be elected mayor by a two-thirds majority and agreed to show their support. Her victory on April 4, 1887, received worldwide recognition.

Although Salter held the office for only a year, her leadership highlighted the resilience and determination of the suffragette. Salter paved the way for future milestones including full suffrage for women in Kansas by 1912, about eight years before the 19th Amendment was passed, granting voting rights to all women across the US. 

Background & Life Outside Politics

Susanna Madora Kinsey was born to Terissa Ann White and Oliver Kinsey on March 2, 1860. She belonged to Lamira, an unincorporated community in Smith Township located in Ohio's Belmont County. Her family was descendants of Quaker colonists who came to the United States from England. 

When Susanna was 12 years old, her family moved to a small town in Kansas and settled on an 80-acre farm. She attended Kansas State Agricultural College and skipped her freshman year because of the college-level courses she had taken during high school. However, she dropped out of college six weeks before graduating due to sickness.

During her college days, she met her husband Lewis Allison Salter, an aspiring lawyer and the son of former Kansas Lieutenant Governor Melville J. Salter. They had nine children. The couple moved to Argonia, where became an active member of The Woman's Christian Temperance Union and Prohibition Party organizations. 

Salter and her husband relocated to Augusta, Woods County, Oklahoma, where her husband had obtained land. There, her husband practised law and began a newspaper called Headlight. They lived there for a decade and then moved to Carmen, Oklahoma. Salter's husband died in 1916.

Salter then moved to Norman, Oklahoma, and spent the rest of her life there with her younger children as they attended the University of Oklahoma. She died on March 17, 1961. It was two weeks before her 101st birthday. She was buried next to her husband in Argonia, Kansas.